RU senate proposes budget without fund for research

Rajshahi University has announced a budget of Tk 294.74 crore for fiscal year of 2015-16 without proposing any allocation for conducting researches.

The RU senate proposed the budget with a deficit of Tk 45.39 crore at its 21st meeting held at its Senate Bhaban yesterday with Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Mizanddin in the chair.  

According to the senate sources, only Tk 22.89 crore has been allocated for education sector, which is very poor. But it has proposed Tk 32.99 crore for meeting general expenses, including costs for office, staff development and sending representatives abroad.

Of the total budget, Tk 227.83 crore has been allocated for salaries and pensions of teachers and other staff. Last year, Tk 2.88 crore of the total Tk 208.15 crore was allocated for research purposes.

Many senate members at the meeting expressed resentment over proposing the budget without allocation for researches and poor allocation in education sector, some members told The Daily Star seeking anonymity.

Prof Pranab Kumar Pandey said research activities in public universities are poor due to lack of budget allocation in this sector.

How will teachers conduct researches without money?, questioned another senior teacher seeking anonymity.

Meanwhile, Chhatra Front of RU unit, in a statement, protested the budget for not allocating money for researches.

Alamgir Hossain Sujon, Chhatra Front RU unit president, said major allocation for a university should be for research and education sectors.

The RU VC told The Daily Star that the university want to allocate more for research and education sectors but it has to depend on the government as its own income is very limited.

The university needs more allocation from the government to ensure quality researches, he said. 

Only Tk 18.15 crore will come from own income sources of the university while the University Grants Commission will approve the budget with some changes and finally provide the rest of the amount, said the sources.